Did You Know Mysteries and Peculiarities of the Bermuda Triangle?

2015-12-04 11:25:56

Bermuda Triangle, also called as Devil’s Triangle, is one of the most mysterious places in the modern world. The mysteries of Bermuda Triangle have been described and transmitted by people, books, and magazines for centuries, and now by television shows and websites. The very first person to notice and report about this one of the most uncanny ocean regions on earth was Christopher Columbus, the world-famous Italian maritime explorer who had completed as much as four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. So far, numerous ships, aircrafts, and people have disappeared in this mythical region under mysterious circumstances and without giving/radioing any distress message or explanation. These either vanished into the thin air or deep waters of the ocean! Even debris of any lost plane or ship was not found!! Vincent H. Gaddis was the first person to coin the term "Bermuda Triangle" in an article written for Argosy magazine in the year 1964. During last five decades over 100 airplanes, 1000 commercial ships, and numerous yachts have been mysteriously disappeared in this roughly triangular sea region; on an average, about 20 yachts and 4 aircrafts get disappeared every year. This fact answers to the question "why is Bermuda triangle called the Devil’s triangle?" by people worldwide. The reasons regarding "how ships and aircrafts disappear in Bermuda triangle?" range from scientific to sheer myth.

Let me start from answering the question "where is Bermuda triangle located?", and then stipulate the various possible reasons given for such disappearances. The Bermuda Triangle is a loosely defined and mythical region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. The vertices of this roughly triangular region are located in Miami of Florida Peninsula, in San Juan of Puerto Rico, and in the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda. The approximate ocean area covered by this triangle is 500,000 square miles. This area is larger than the combined land area of three major Indian States of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. The majority of all disappearances took place around the southern boundary of this triangle between Puerto Rico and Florida. Here, it may also be noted that, this sea region is one of the most heavily travelled shipping lanes of the world, as well as one of the massively flown air routes leading to Florida, the Caribbean, and the South America. Again, noteworthy here is also that according to the US Navy any such triangle does not exist in reality, and the name "Bermuda Triangle" has not been recognized by the US Board on Geographic Names.

The peculiarities of Bermuda triangle captured most attention of public worldwide in the beginning of the 20th century. One most shocking tragedy occurred in March 1918, when USS Cyclops, a 542-foot-long Navy cargo ship got disappeared in this region without leaving any trace of wreckage; about 10,000 tons of manganese ore and 300 men were onboard at the time of this formidable mishap. The ship didn’t send out any SOS distress call, though it was well-equipped to do so. "Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship," --- had said the US President Woodrow Wilson, after the mishap. After this, many deadly happenings took place in this triangular region; the most significant ones are the following ---- Flight 19 [1945], Douglas DC-3 Aircraft [1948], and Connemara IV [1955]. Persons accepting the Bermuda Triangle as a real phenomenon have offered a number of following explanatory approaches, technical, geographical, and supernatural: ---

Presence of some Supernatural Forces

Possibility of an unusual local magnetic anomalies causing Compass Variations --- it has been alleged that, due to influences of these local magnetic anomalies, the compass does not point towards Magnetic North, instead, it points the true north. This creates confusion, and compels ships and planes to lose right course in the triangular region.

Influence of adjacent Gulf Stream (having a surface velocity over 5.5 Miles/Hour) --- it is supposed that fast moving Gulf Stream used to disperse any wreckage consequently rising to the ocean surface after the incident.

Human Errors

Tropical Cyclones in the area

And Eruptions of Methane Hydrates from the ocean floor --- Australian laboratory experiments have concluded that the periodic methane eruptions produce frothy waters with copious bubbles, decreasing the density of the regional waters. After being caught up under such waters, a ship can easily lose its buoyancy, and consequently sink rapidly without giving any warning.

However, no any above-mentioned single theory is expedient enough to solve the existing mystery of Bermuda Triangle. The U.S. Coast Guard and Maritime Insurance Leader Lloyd’s of London are of the opinion that the terrific happenings in the Bermuda triangle occurred due to physical causes including human errors. According to U.S. Coast Guard: "In a review of many aircraft and vessel losses in the area over the years, there has been nothing discovered that would indicate that casualties were the result of anything other than physical causes. No extraordinary factors have ever been identified."